A new Chinese propaganda video mocks American democracy to the tune of the song ‘Wellerman; the sea shanty that went viral in Ireland and in the UK during the summer. The video was posted to the Ambassade de Chine en France Twitter account (the Chinese Embassy in France).
It is Ameri-cracy! pic.twitter.com/bacJZLSgJu
— Ambassade de Chine en France (@AmbassadeChine) December 10, 2021
The goal of the Embassy is to promote positive relations between China and France, since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1964. According to the Embassy, ‘Sino-French relations have always been at the forefront of Sino-European and Sino-Western relations’.
The first words of the scathing song, which is sung by a female singer surrounded by animated animals are: “It’s Ameri-cracy!!! Use democracy as a cloak, Americ-cracy rules the world. If any country said no, you would bash it as your foe.”
It continues to boast about Chinese ‘democracy’ whilst accusing the US of ‘disinformation’ and ‘gerrymandering’: “Democracy of our own, reflects our culture, will and soul. If your system can cure all, why did it cause so many woes? Inside of the country money talks. All policies submit to the corp. Disinformation, Gerrymandering skew election results.
“Trillions of dollars burned on wars. Yet lack money for the sick and poor. Play human rights across the world yet backyard you ignore. 8 billion people across the globe you pick a word to fool the world. The time you show is blown apart, it’s scoffed at as a joke.”
The video is seen as a continuation of China’s Communist leaders ridicule of western-Style democracy. Democratic systems, like those in the United States, are “doomed to fail,” top Chinese officials said, the Associated Press reported ahead of Biden’s two-day democracy summit which took place last week.
The summit has since sparked a flurry of major propaganda from Beijing that presents American democracy as defunct and hypocritical, claiming “socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics” is superior. The video is part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s touting of its “people’s democratic dictatorship” model of governance as a superior alternative to liberal democracies in place in the West.
Twitter has been set alight with reaction to the bizarre video since it was posted last Friday, with one user writing of the lively video seemingly designed to attack the US and promote a feeling of Chinese nationalism: “This is almost North Korea bad.”
https://twitter.com/Navy_Hipple/status/1469596444877373443?s=20
“I did not expect a sea shanty tune to be used in a Chinese propaganda video but here we are. Times are wild,” another said.
I did not expect a sea shanty tune to be used in a Chinese propaganda video but here we are. The times are wild.
— Dominic Deccoco (@sickosinus) December 11, 2021
The video was also widely labelled as “cringe” and some complained it had ruined the popular song for them.
The People's Republic of Cringe
— 𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℍ𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪 𝕠𝕗 ℂ𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕒 ℙ𝕠𝕕𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕥 (@thocpodcast) December 12, 2021
Just how long have they been working on this? If China wants to win the meme war, they need to become far more agile and adaptable. The Sea Shanty fad stopped being a thing months ago. https://t.co/DiLfhkk5jH
— Matt (@MattFromKent) December 11, 2021
The video comes in the wake of the high-profile disappearance and speculated abduction of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai after she accused former Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoili of rape. The US, the UK, Australia and Canada have all vowed to boycott the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics over the suspicious disappearance, citing the human rights abuses of China. Hitting back, China issued a stark warning to those involved, telling them they will “pay the price” for the Olympic boycott.
Some on Twitter were quick to mock the video in light of China’s own woeful record on human rights and the country’s stifling of freedom of speech.
"Democracy of our own, reflects our culture, will and soul."@TheAcademy should include a category on best propaganda song, just for this masterpiece.😁#BoycottBeijing2022 #BoycottBeijingOlympics https://t.co/aWbxcbr8Mo pic.twitter.com/GBRn9UkRZa
— Sagacap (@Anand90279460) December 12, 2021
"Democracy of our own, reflects our culture, will and soul."@TheAcademy should include a category on best propaganda song, just for this masterpiece.😁#BoycottBeijing2022 #BoycottBeijingOlympics https://t.co/aWbxcbr8Mo pic.twitter.com/GBRn9UkRZa
— Sagacap (@Anand90279460) December 12, 2021
“Yes, the West has problems, but your evil system is not the solution,” one tweet read, while the video was also slammed as “creepy”.
Blasting the song’s assertion that China is superior to the West for its unique take on democracy, one user called out the totalitarian state.
“And it talks about “gerrymandering.” All of China is one big gerrymander where the ruling party can do whatever it wants because it can never be voted out by the people,” someone said online.
https://twitter.com/KristianHarstad/status/1469646689820712962?s=20
So creepy.
And it talks about "gerrymandering." All of China is one big gerrymander where the ruling party can do whatever it wants because it can never be voted out by the people. There is no will of the people, there is only "Xi Jinping thought." China's "communism" = fascism.
— Mark Gubrud (@mgubrud) December 11, 2021
Someone else highlighted China’s strict censorship rules, writing: “Funny how it’s the France embassy tweeting this because Twitter is illegal in actual China.”
https://twitter.com/Claywh0re/status/1469987135134515200?s=20
Despite the bizarrity of the video and the fact it raised significant criticism and baffled many, others couldn’t help joking that it was still a catchy attempt to disparage the US and a source of entertainment.
Whoa what's happening out there??…..also catchy tune?? https://t.co/KkrCYaTkRI
— Husbanding (@tapanwaval) December 12, 2021
So that democracy sumit thing really pissed off chinese. Anyway this Ameri-cracy track is banger tho. https://t.co/QUMNd0sTH3
— NA (@November__Alpha) December 12, 2021